One-day captain Alastair Cook admits it will be hard for England to replace Kevin Pietersen after his retirement from limited-overs cricket.

Goodbye: KP has stepped down from ODIs (Picture: AFP/GettyImages)

Pietersen, 31, announced yesterday he will no longer play in one-day or Twenty20 internationals, after the ECB refused his request to carry on in the shortest form, saying he had to play both formats or none at all.

It means Pietersen will not only miss the 2015 ODI World Cup but also the defence of England’s World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka later this year.

Cook said: ‘Clearly when you lose a player of that calibre in a short format where he’s proven to be a mighty fine player it is disappointing.

Disappointed: England’s Alastair Cook (Picture: PA)

‘In Pakistan when he moved to open the batting we had a really good partnership going on up there.

‘The one thing it does is give another person an opportunity to try and get into the one-day team.

‘There’s a huge number of talented, young players in the county game – people like Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler.